How to fix “The disc can’t be burned, because the device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media” error

This post may only be helpful to one person, but as I always say, if you can help just ONE person… then you may as well have not even bothered. But just in case this helps TWO people, I will post it anyway.

Last week I attempted to burn a DVD in my 2008 MacBook Pro for the first time in about 2 years, and was greeted by a somewhat cryptic but high tech error message which read:

“The disc can’t be burned, because the device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media.”

Thinking the error message must be saying I had a bum disc, I tried two others without success before trying to burn one on a nearby Mac Pro, which went off without a hitch. Being lazy, I Tweeted to my loyal followers who suggested I reset the SMC with no success (Well, actually they suggested I reset the SMC WITH success, but I couldn’t seem to do that).

Anyway, long story short, the quick cheap fix was to blow compressed air into the DVD slot. The only trick is you need a can of compressed air with the straw attachment, as you have to blow through the then rubber membrane that covers the DVD drive slot and you need to get pretty close for the air to be powerful enough to get through. I ASSUME this membrane is designed to keep out dust but obviously it isn’t foolproof. Of course, usual compressed air etiquette applies, so use short bursts to avoid shooting freezing cold goo into your computer.

So, despite an error message that might lead you to assume a bad disc or some sort of drive or power failure, the culprit appears to just be dust. The result, below, is success.

Cool! I’m about to try it on my 2007 macbook. BTW since were among the die hard who still love our vintage macbooks, wondering … What if any OS, software and other upgrades such as memory etc have you done to yours? Mine came with Tiger 10.4 though I upgraded to snow leopard 10.6.8 some time ago and have purchased and uploaded lion thru itunes ($19.99) and am abt ready to install it. Too many incompatibilities for me between flash and versions of chrome etc. Just wondering.. Super pleased to know I’m not the only one kissing and sweet talking my baby each night when I go to bed!! I give her a gentle pat on the cracked top & bottom case each morning she successfully boots up!! Love my Mac to death. Got a TB external drive to transfer 8 yes worth of you name it before I bump up to Lion which I understand is the furthest up the food chain an 07 Maccan go (though iI have read the occasional post of some super techie bringing his current to Yosemite!!?? I skipped mtn lion .. Went straight to snow leopard w/o incident. Good move too. Things ran really well for quite a while (flash chrome etc)…now its starting to become a bit of a struggle again! Time to pony up pretty soon. Raises another Q… 1) Beautiful new gold fanless lower power macbook, a Mac air or MBP? I do voiceovers elearning, amazon product videos, smartphone apps ebooks etc and the thoughtof asilent system is really inviting .. BUT I’m syncing my voice to video .. Recording and playing rewinding playing editing the clients videos in rapid fashion .. Would an air suffice or am I better off with the THICK N Powerful MBP??

I got it going after compressed air didn’t work by changing the media, Maxwell DVD-R’s didn’t work at all, I finally used Sony DVD-RW and Imation DVD-R. I found elsewhere that crappy media not up to spec will not record on the mac.

Blowing air into the slot worked for me too! But you can avoid the terrible environmental impact of the so called “compressed air” (which actually contains all sorts of harmful greenhouse gases) by using a hand pump of the type used to inflate basket balls, volley balls, etc. Just use the little “needle” attachment and insert it in the slot of your drive instead of your volley ball. This is also cheaper, if you already have a pump like this.

Yesterday I took my computer apart (a MacBook Pro 2010) to clean the lens of the burner…with no result, I would still get the message form hell “The disc can’t be burned, because the device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media.”

So anyways…I read your post and I almost didn’t try it…Could really some compressed air do a better job than a fine old-styled alcohol-soaked ear cotton bud? YES IT COULD.

So again..THANK YOU! I’m posting this on my Facebook, other lives could be saved LOL

Thanks so much for posting. I tried the rubber blower to no effect, then used the compressed air. The disc is now being written on happily, as far as I can tell. I’m sure I would have taken it to the Apple store if not for your advice.

Well, this worked for me too! I didn’t have a can of compressed air, a bicycle pump or anything like that, BUT I’ve got strong lungs & just blew into the cd/dvd drive really hard, granted, I nearly passed out from lightheadedness, but I’m burning my dvd as I write this….success!

P.s. I’m gonna check if there are any little piggies with straw houses nearby, ha ha

I have not had similar luck. I have tried the compressed gas repeatedly but still get the error message on my IMac. I too am a photographer and trying to burn clients discs….so frustrating. Could I be doing something wrong? is there a particular area to burst the air? ugh.

Well, MacEnstein, you helped SAVE THE DAY for yet another stumped Mac disc burner. I blasted and she burned. Never would have even come close to that diagonosis – failure to calibrate the laser power level . . . never would have thought of dust!! but, now i’m burning my presentation and will not be late for my showing. Thank you!!!!

My 2008 Macbook has just suffered the same fate! Today as I attempted to burn a DVD, for the first time in several years, I joined the ranks of “The disc can’t be burned, because the device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media” club.

I’ve tried various reputable brands of writable CDs and DVDs at all the available burn speeds. Resetting the SMC and repairing my permissions via the disk utility “utility” as suggested by some in the Apple support community, and finally the compressed air duster and even the credit card and lint free cloth method without any success.

Has anyone any other suggestions? My MacBook has been very well cared for, and the optical drive hardly used.

I’m burning a 52X CD as we speak after getting the failed to calibrate message. But a 16x vertatime dvd didn’t work. I’ve just got out the ear wax blower prepared to use it. My problem ‘seemed’ to start after I used up the entire hard drive downloading movies. To fix the ‘locked hard drive’ I put the macbook pro in safe mode, went in an removed maybe 10 gigs of films, then started downloading again. I hadn’t burned a dvd in awhile. I’m not sure I have the macbook pro out of safe mode. I’ve read forums where others complain of the same thing. But the worse thing is I can burn cds, even very old ones with only 652 megs of space, but while I was able to make one DVD 16x burn, I haven’t succeeded yet with another. I’m going to blow some air in it first, then try again. Maybe with one less film in it. I’m thinking I’ve reached the stage where the machine will give me the failed to calibrate error, even when the problem is I’m trying to load too many megs. The CD worked. It runs at 52x. I’m going to try again. The 16x dvd worked. I loaded all three films. The Mac Guys, as they call themselves, told me over the phone, unloading the hard drive COULD improve the performance. I still need advice on getting my 2011 vintage macbook with 10.6.8 OS out of safe mode. The first light on the right forward laptop edge only lights temporarily, then lights one to the left until it loads, after which there are no lights beaming from the front edge and the right one should be lit.

OK. That did it. I’m bookmarking you because this makes 3 successful fixes explained with no BS or patronizing. From now on I skip the hopeless CNET articles and blind-led Apple forums and come right here. Plus you’re funny a little.

I was having trouble with my Bluray burner, and this error was being thrown at me. I was also trying to use the App “Burn” but it didn’t work as well. So I cleaned the lens with a q-tip and it did the trick. Thanks!

Thank you so much!!! Just had this problem this afternoon & actually copied & pasted the error message into Bing. Your article came up so I tried it! Worked perfectly on my 2008 MacBook Pro. I LOVE my computer & aside from the fact that I do not have the $3,000 to buy a new one right now, I LOVE my computer so I’m trying to keep “nursing it along” as long as I can. Thank you again so much for posting this!! : )

Hi This sounds like th best solution. I ma trying to burn mini dvds using external hard drive. I tried blowing in there but didnt seem to do anything, please can you suggest anything.maybe I am doing it at the wrong area! Thank you